Engineering Disease-Free Babies? Well there goes the Gay Gene...

Engineering Disease-Free Babies?

British Scientists Have Engineered Embryos to Be Free of Mitochondrial Disease

By LAUREN COX

 More

It takes two to make a baby, or maybe three or four if you're worried about passing on select genetic diseases.

"Because of the lack of a viable treatment for these patients, and their families, preventing the transmission of mtDNA [mitochondrial DNA] disease is a priority," Douglas Turnbull, of the New Castle Institute for Brain Aging and Vitality and colleagues wrote in the article.Doctors in the United Kingdom announced Tuesday that they had successfully genetically engineered embryos from parents who would have passed on mitochondrial DNA mutations by conceiving the old-fashioned way. The researchers reported the feat in the journal Nature.

Mitochondria can be found in the cytoplasm of the cells, where they produce most of the cells energy. They have their own DNA distinct from the 50-50 mother-father split in the nucleus of a cell. A child directly inherits only its mother's mitochondrial DNA, and in some cases will be certain to inherit a debilitating mitochondrial mutation.

Related

Gene Screening: Brings Good With Bad?

Does Having a Dad Make You Die Sooner?

New Prez, New Era for Stem Cells?

Turnbull and his colleagues took 80 donated fertilized eggs that were unsuitable for in vitro fertilization, removed the nuclei and replaced the nucleus from the unhealthy egg with mutated mitochondria into the healthy egg.

The authors of the paper argue that while some couples who know they are at risk for passing on mitochondrial diseases can already get genetic counseling or expect only mild problems from mitochondrial mutation, other families are more unfortunate.All of the genetically engineered zygotes soon developed into blastocysts and were destroyed within 6 to 8 days. But conceivably, couples could go through the same process and get a baby that looks like them but doesn't carry the mother's mutated mitochondrial DNA in the cytoplasm of their cells. A different method with similar goals was completed with monkeys in 2009.

"In some families, mtDNA disease can affect multiple family members with catastrophic consequences," wrote Turnbull and colleagues. "For these families, pronuclear transfer may be an option that mothers who carry mtDNA mutation may consider."

 

 

'Insert Coin': Google Doodle Celebrates Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary

Fans Can Play Pac-Man From Google's Homepage for 48 Hours

By KI MAE HEUSSNER

May 21, 2010

Pac-Man is back. And to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the classic video arcade game,Google has unveiled its first-ever interactive doodle – a Pac-Man game that Web users can play straight from Google's homepage.

The name of the game comes from the sound of eating, according to the official Pac-Man website. "Paku" is the Japanese sound for "chomp."On May 22, 1980 the now-iconic Pac-Man game was released in Japan byNamco Bandai Games. Originally called Puck Man, Pac-Man launched in the U.S. in October 1980 and went on to sell more than 100,000 units in its first year of production.

Now the game is listed by Guinness World Records as the world's most successful coin-operated game.

To help recognize the pop culture mainstay, at 11 a.m. ET today (midnight in Japan), Google turned its homepage over to a Pac-Man game that can be played for the next 48 hours.

Related

Tweeting Tchaikovsky on His Birthday

Google Doodle Mystery Solved: Happy Birthday, H.G. Wells

Google 'Superphone' Makes Its Debut

Visitors can click on the "insert coin" button or wait 10 seconds to automatically start the game, which reaches 256 levels.

"Google doodler Ryan Germick and I made sure to include Pac-Man's original game logic, graphics and sounds, bring back ghosts' individual personalities, and even recreate original bugs from this 1980's masterpiece," said Marcin Wichary, senior user experience designer at Google and co-creator of the Pac-Man doodle.

"Pac-Man seems like a natural fit for the Google homepage. They're both deceptively straightforward, carefully hiding their complexity under the hood. There's a light-hearted, human touch to both of them."

Google posted its very first doodle in 1998 and its first animated doodle earlier this year to celebrate the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton (it showed an apple falling from a tree). Other popular Google doodles have recognized author H.G. Wells, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the changing seasons.To celebrate the anniversary, Namco has released championship editions for Apple's iPhone and iPad.

Gay Adoption Dominate discourse in Tampa, Fl.

Offshore drilling, gay adoption dominate District 47 forum

By Janet Zink, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, May 22, 2010

---

Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Political Connections with Adam Smith What to do about the health care 'monster'? Karl Nurse releases campaign commercial Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Kathleen Ford thanks supporters St. Petersburg mayor's race down to two candidates Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Shouting match erupts at city council Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Political Connections with Adam Smith Marco Rubio on Political Connections Political Connections with Larry Williams Political Connections Troxler & Ruth Troxler & Ruth Latvala on Political Connections Rep. Darryl Rouson on Political Connections Ginny Brown Waite: Crist wise to bail Adam Smith and Political Connections on Bay News 9 Troxler & Ruth Grand jury investigating Sansom calls witnesses Political Connection with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio Obama: Health Care Must Be Reformed Now Obama: U.S. Schools 'Need More Reform' Obama: Economic Agenda Begins With Jobs Obama to Hold Banks 'Fully Accountable' Obama: We Need to Restart Lending Obama: US Will Survive 'Day of Reckoning' Rep. Adam Putnam interviewed State Senator Mike Fasano interviewed Tourist Refrain: "I Had to Be Here" Howard Troxler's Christmas Tunes The governor gets married Retiring the flag An issue of faith Inside the spin zone Sarah Palin's first Florida appearance Sarah Palin holds rally in Clearwater Living history McCain promises Wall Street reform in Tampa rally Thousands attend Obama rally in Tampa Joe Biden speaks at USF Sun Dome Thousands attend Dunedin Obama rally Barack Obama at Gibbs High School

TAMPA — Immigration, offshore oil drilling and the rights of gay couples to adopt children were hot topics during a District 47 state House candidate forum Friday at a Tiger Bay Club meeting.

The race has only one Democrat, attorney Michael Steinberg.

Five Republicans are vying to represent Carrollwood and Northdale: Retired Verizon lobbyist Irene Guy; attorney James Grant; former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair; business owner Tom Aderhold; and Rich Reidy, a legislative aide to County Commissioner Ken Hagan.

The most heated exchange in the generally low-key forum involved the topic of allowing gay couples to adopt children.

The five Republicans all said they believe children are best raised by a mother and father.

Steinberg, though, earned applause when he said the state should repeal the law that forbids such adoptions.

"I know children who are being raised by two women and they are just as stable and just as well-adjusted as any other children," he said.

He likened the ban to a policy in place when he first started practicing law that kept mixed-race couples from having custody of children after a divorce.

That prompted Grant to ask the group to waive the rules so he could comment a second time on the topic.

"To make the analogy between interracial marriage and raising a child in a homosexual family is absolutely outrageous," Grant began.

Steinberg was the only candidate to flat-out reject drilling for oil any closer to the coast of Florida than is currently allowed. Reidy said drilling within 10 miles, as has been proposed, is "unacceptable."

Blair said the country still needs to drill for oil, either by perfecting the technology for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico or starting in western states such as Montana and Wyoming.

"Environmental disasters are terrible. The loss of life is worse. When a plane crashes, do you stop flying? No," he said.

When asked whether they would back an immigration law similar to one passed recently by the Arizona legislature, the candidates were mixed.

Reidy said no, adding that Florida doesn't have the same type problems as Arizona. But he said illegal immigration is a concern because it costs the state $3.8 billion a year. He said he supports the use of E-Verify, an electronic system that checks a potential employee's immigration status.

Aderhold and Blair took the toughest stances, saying they support the Arizona law.

"Overwhelmingly, America supports what Arizona did to control the flow of illegal immigrants," Blair said. "And God bless the legal ones."

Steinberg said after reading the Arizona law, he determined it wasn't that much different from what federal law allows.

He called it a purely political measure.

"It was a bad bill because it just incites the general public against one group of people," he said.

Republican Kevin Ambler, who currently represents District 47, is running for the state Senate.